NHL (2020-2021) v. Draft, sign, & trade.

[jingle.boy]

Your situation reminds me of a comment that one of the HNIC broadcasters made about Vancouver / Thatcher Demko.  "He'll just drag them to a worse draft pick".    

Ya never know guys... all ya gotta do is get to the dance, then anything can happen.

[gmillerdrake]

Your situation reminds me of a comment that one of the HNIC broadcasters made about Vancouver / Thatcher Demko.  "He'll just drag them to a worse draft pick".    

Ya never know guys... all ya gotta do is get to the dance, then anything can happen.

Yeah. True. It’s tough to envision though with guys like Sundquist and Parayko out for the rest of the year. Literally ANY other two players I could imagine it but those two are just vital cogs in the Blues machine. Would love to be surprised though.

[dparrott]

Sharks missing the playoffs two years in a row.  First time since 95-97. 

[pg1067]

Sharks missing the playoffs two years in a row.  First time since 95-97. 

All of these work:

 

[gmillerdrake]

Blues and Hockey Legend Bob Plager was killed today in a car accident on a highway in St. Louis. He was the ultimate Defender and teammate......LOVED the Blues and was a great ambassador for the sport. Raised countless dollars for charity in St. Louis and my boys and I were lucky enough to have met him and hang out with him in a private suite in October of 2019.

[TAC]

Oh wow, that's tragic.

[TAC]

You guys see this story?

https://www.cbssports.com/nhl/news/why-tim-peels-hot-mic-incident-should-have-long-term-implications-on-nhl-officiating/

[pg1067]

You guys see this story?

https://www.cbssports.com/nhl/news/why-tim-peels-hot-mic-incident-should-have-long-term-implications-on-nhl-officiating/

I saw the NHL's statement yesterday but didn't know what had happened.  I finally heard it today at lunch.  As the article notes, he was apparently about to retire, so it probably won't really affect him in terms of salary and pension, but what a dumbass thing to do.  It would be VERY different if he had said, "I wanted to call a penalty early to keep the game under control from the start," but to say that he wanted to call a penalty against one team right from the outset of the game is bad.

[Anguyen92]

I read the headlines about it in some various tweets.  Now, most likely, I think the NHL will want to sweep this under the rug as quick as possible which they hope they will accomplish by saying that Tim Peel will not referee a NHL game ever again, and think that this incident is just isolated and that not all refs will have that same mindset.  I would think various parties would not want the NHL to stop at that and if handled incorrectly, this could get ugly pretty fast. 

People are already pissed at refs in general.  Stuff like this would get people even more pissed at them.  I get it. It's a tough job to do that regular people would not want to do and this is a pretty precarious position to be in right now.

[gmillerdrake]

Tim Peel is one of the most respected Referees in the NHL from players and coaches alike. I listed all day to sports talk radio with multiple former players coming to his defense essentially saying what he said has been said by every referee for the past 50 years. Also, it was a hot mix that cut him off in mid sentence.

I’m not saying what he did was right or shouldn’t be punishable in some manner. But the only story here is the fact he had a hot mic that unfortunately caught a part of a private conversation.

[KevShmev]

Blues and Hockey Legend Bob Plager was killed today in a car accident on a highway in St. Louis. He was the ultimate Defender and teammate......LOVED the Blues and was a great ambassador for the sport. Raised countless dollars for charity in St. Louis and my boys and I were lucky enough to have met him and hang out with him in a private suite in October of 2019.

Yep, sad day for Blues fans everywhere.  A true Blues legend.  R.I.P.

[TAC]

At least the man met the Millers. We should all be so lucky.

[gmillerdrake]

At least the man met the Millers. We should all be so lucky.

One day my friend.....we will share a warm embrace.....

[TAC]

At least the man met the Millers. We should all be so lucky.

One day my friend.....we will share a warm embrace.....

Missouri is on the list. My wife is totally on board. I was born in Kansas City so it's a bucket list trip. And my son wants to see the Arch.

[axeman90210]

I thought this was a good article on the practice of refs trying to keep calls "even" https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/hockey-refs-are-out-to-get-you-if-they-already-got-the-other-guy/

[Nick]

I thought this was a good article on the practice of refs trying to keep calls "even" https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/hockey-refs-are-out-to-get-you-if-they-already-got-the-other-guy/

I totally read this as coming from Five/Eight at first and had to do 5 takes and finally click on the link to understand what was actually going on.

[Anguyen92]

So I'm looking at the scoreboards around the league and noted that the Rangers are decimating the Flyers again.  That's quite a note to read.

[TAC]

Barry Trotz just pulled his pants down and showed the Bruins his ass again tonight.

[KevShmev]

Blues outshoot the Wild 85-4, yet lose 2-0. 

[Anguyen92]

Blues outshoot the Wild 85-4, yet lose 2-0. 

Similar thing happened in back to back games against the Sharks for the Kings in the last few days.

[SchecterShredder]

Blues outshoot the Wild 85-4, yet lose 2-0. 

Could be worse.... Like the Flames losing back to back against the Sens

[jingle.boy]

Sabres lose again, though not for lack of effort - 36 SOG.

Leafs barely scrape by the Sens in OT.  Why is it (seemingly) no-name goalies turn into Vezina candidates against the Leafs.  This is the second game in a row against the Sens they get a nobody goalie, who stonewalls them.

[TheCountOfNYC]

Man I will never get tired of seeing the Rangers beat the absolute shit out of the Flyers.

[crazy climber dude]

This will likely rankle romdrums, but there is an Avalanche starting to form. Getting healthy and starting to dominate. They toyed with the first place Golden Knights last night.....and have now leapfrogged them in the West.

[jingle.boy]

Sure would've been nice to get the Oil playing their 4th game in 6, and straight from a B2B travel day tomorrow night.  But alas, Canadiens and COVID fucked that up.  Here's hoping the Leafs can get their heads out of their asses.

[romdrums]

This will likely rankle romdrums, but there is an Avalanche starting to form. Getting healthy and starting to dominate. They toyed with the first place Golden Knights last night.....and have now leapfrogged them in the West.

 
Actually, it's nice to see the Avs catching fire.  I hope the Red Wings can do a rebuild like the Avs did.  They just need their own MacKinnon, Landeskog, Rantanen and Makar.  Joe Sakic has done a great job as the GM and I hope, someday, the Wings and Avs meet in the Stanley Cup Final.  Then I'll be rankled!

[romdrums]

Also, happy 24th anniversary of one of the greatest hockey games in NHL history:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Avalanche–Detroit_Red_Wings_brawl

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFNh6aRqocQ

[LudwigVan]

Barry Trotz just pulled his pants down and showed the Bruins his ass again tonight.

Is Krejci done? His numbers look subpar. Do B's fans miss Chara?

[TAC]

Barry Trotz just pulled his pants down and showed the Bruins his ass again tonight.

Is Krejci done? His numbers look subpar. Do B's fans miss Chara?

Is Krejci done? Good question. His contract is up at the end of this season. I expect Sweeney to move on from him as he did with Chara.

He has played fine this year. He's slipped but his play has not fallen off a cliff like his production would lead you to think.

Do the fans miss Chara? Sure, but his play had really dropped off. Plus he was the Captain and such a leader in the room. Sweeney really wanted to incorporate his younger guys into the mix.
Has it worked? Well, Charlie MacAvoy has been great. Their 2nd best d-man is Brandon Carlo, but he's out hurt.

They let Krug walk. They actually offered more than they really wanted to pay, but the Blues definitely showed him the money. They thought Matt Gryzelcyk could play that role, but he's no Krug.

The young guys have played OK. Jeremy Lauzon was playing the best out of them but he's out hurt. Jakob Zboril (2015 1st Rd pick), who is finally getting a shot, and has been just OK. With the injuries, he's been exposed a bit.

Personally, I agreed with letting Chara walk. Sweeney had some balls putting trust into his young guys and coaching staff. The Bruins problem right now is injuries, with Rask being out is really hurting them. Halak has not played well this year, as you saw last night.

It's the last year of Tuukka's contract too, but I think he'll re-sign.

[King Postwhore]

The B's do need a top 6 scorer.  One line can't so it all in the playoffs.  It's been proven with the B's for a while though.

Tim, what the hell is going on with Coyle?  He can't score in the ocean these days.

[TAC]

Coyle has played much better the last couple of weeks. I thought he was their best player last night.

[TAC]

Eric Staal to the Canadiens for a 3rd and a 5th.

[jingle.boy]

 

Why is it (seemingly) no-name goalies turn into Vezina candidates against the Leafs.

Well, Mike Smith isn’t a no-name, but at 39 years old, he turned back the clock a decade with some absolute robbery last night. I’m not being hyperbolic to say it could’ve been 6-3 or 7-3 - Leafs hit the iron 3 times, Smith stoned Matthews 3 times, and Mariner on a 2-on-1.  Not at all surprised it was a greasy fluke that won it.

Very entertaining game.

[SchecterShredder]

They should've had 3-3 overtime decades ago

[TAC]

They should've had 3-3 overtime decades ago

Can you imagine Gretzky, Kurri, and Coffey in OT? DAMN!